Question: The Cookie Monster encounters a cookie whose boundary is the equation $x^2+y^2 - 6.5 = x + 3 y$ and is very confused. He wants to know if this cookie is a lunch-sized cookie or a snack-sized cookie. What is the radius of this cookie?
Solution: The equation $x^2+y^2 - 6.5 = x + 3 y$ can be rewritten as $x^2-x+y^2-3y=6.5$. Completing the square and writing decimals as fractions, this can further be rewritten as $\left( x - \dfrac{1}{2} \right)^2 - \dfrac{1}{4} + \left( y - \dfrac{3}{2} \right)^2 - \dfrac{9}{4}=\dfrac{13}{2}$. Moving the constants to the right side of the equation, this is $\left( x - \dfrac{1}{2} \right)^2 + \left( y - \dfrac{3}{2} \right)^2 = \dfrac{10}{4}+\dfrac{13}{2}=\dfrac{18}{2}=9$, which is the equation of a circle with center $\left( \dfrac{1}{2}, \dfrac{3}{2} \right)$ and radius $\boxed{3}$.